“Our Vergil” (

), as Seneca claims him with more than a touch of nationalistic pride, was universally acclaimed in the Roman world as the greatest of their poets and a worthy rival of the Greek epic poet, Homer. Virgil's influence on the literature of medieval, renaissance and modern Europe has likewise been incalculable. Virgil's reputation rests on three works: the

a highly crafted collection of pastoral poems modelled on the

of the Sicilian Greek poet Theocritus; the

(“On husbandry”), a practical handbook on farming matters that is nevertheless deeply informed by larger and more philosophical concerns in the didactic tradition of the early Greek poet Hesiod (

) and the Roman poet Lucretius (

, “On the nature of…

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Citation: Green, Mandy. "Virgil". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5079, accessed 22 November 2024.]